Chapter 129 The Execution Ground Before Sunset
"Don't-open-open!" She had a hideous face and shouted in a strange voice that was neither male nor female.
The voice was like a suffocated person calling for help, or like a dying person wailing. If a normal person saw it, it would be enough to be frightened.
But Maca just frowned, trying hard to capture some useful information from it.
At the next moment, Trelawney returned to her previous dazed look. She stared blankly at Maca with a confused expression.
Maca smeared some ointment on her hand, and then waved it in front of her, of course, the emphasis must be on the front of the nose.
"Professor? Professor Trelawney?" Maca called. "What's wrong with you?"
"Oh—sorry, I seem to be feeling a little sleepy—" Trelawney regained consciousness, and she hesitated, "Where are we going?"
"We're done," Maca said casually, "but I saw you dozed off, so I couldn't help waking you up—there are still many students waiting for the exam!"
"Ah! Yes, thank you..." She looked down at Maca's record sheet, then nodded and said, "Then you go down first! Remember, you can't tell others what you see from the crystal ball... Otherwise something terrible will happen."
Maca nodded casually, and walked quickly outside—he still had to take a look at Hagrid's cabin.
After leaving the classroom, he conveniently put away the potion bottle.
"Now it seems that this thing can also confuse people who can't drink..." He whispered to himself, and hurried downstairs.
...
When Maca came to the lawn in front of the castle, he looked back as if feeling something, just in time to see a group of men walking down the stone steps of the castle.
In the lead was Dumbledore, his silver beard gleaming in the afterglow of the setting sun.
And at Dumbledore's side was Cornelius Fudge, followed by the frail old council member and executioner McNeill.
Meanwhile, in Hagrid's cabin...
"You've got to go," said Hagrid, shaking from head to toe. "They mustn't find you here... Come on, now..."
Hermione picked up the Invisibility Cloak that lay on the sofa nearby.
"I'll show you the back," said Hagrid.
They followed him to the door leading into the back garden, and Harry felt as if he were in a dream.
The feeling was intensified when he saw Buckbeak a few yards away.
Buckbeak, chained behind a tree in Hagrid's pumpkin patch, seemed to know something was going to happen, turning his head from side to side and pawing the ground uneasily.
"It's all right, Piccolo," said Hagrid softly, "it's all right..." He turned to Harry, Ron and Hermione, "Come on, let's go..."
But Harry and the others didn't want to move.
"Hagrid, we can't—"
"We're going to tell them what's really going on."
"They can't kill it!"
The three of them talked in a hurry, as if they couldn't bear to accept this reality.
"Go!" said Hagrid furiously. "If you're in trouble, it'll be worse!"
They found that they seemed to have no choice.
Hermione put the cloak over Harry and Ron when they heard voices outside the cabin door.
Hagrid looked at the place where they had just disappeared and urged, "Go!" He said hoarsely, "Stop listening..."
After all, he walked slowly back to the hut—someone was already knocking on his door.
In a frightening trance, Harry, Ron, and Hermione began walking slowly and silently around Hagrid's cabin. As they got to the side of the cabin, the front door slammed shut.
"We should still have a way," Hermione's voice was trembling,
"They can't, they can't... what are we going to do—"
She stopped stubbornly, but couldn't think of anything.
"...anyone else have any ideas?" she said, "I think... um? Maca?"
"Yeah! I saw Maca talking to the executioner before—" said Harry, "but what's the use of that? Just chatting..."
"No, listen...it's Maca's voice!" Hermione waved her hand at Harry, then pointed to the cabin.
All three couldn't help but put their ears to the wall.
"...Isn't it appropriate for a student to watch the execution?" This was Fudge's voice.
"It's all right, this is the content of the Protection of Magical Creatures class, and Mr. McLean applied for it on his own initiative," said Dumbledore. "I believe that he understands what he wants to do-this is one of the outstanding students at Hogwarts." Reasonable application."
In fact, today's Fudge really doesn't treat Maca as an ordinary student.
He had already listened to the reports of the battle in Hogsmeade that night. Although the news was still being blocked, Maca's strength had shocked everyone who knew it.
But even so, on the bright side, some things still have to be kept in his stomach-at least for now, he has to do so.
"Minister, I will not do anything to disrupt the execution process," Maca continued, "I need to observe the physiological structure of magical creatures, which will be very helpful for my studies."
"Okay, okay! Well, then, Walton, how about letting Mr. McLean take a look with you?" Fudge said to the executioner Walton McNeil standing by the door with an unchanged expression.
"Okay." McNeill nodded. He replied coldly.
"Then..." Fudge took out a document and read it out, "The Commission for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures has decided that Buckbeak the Hippogriff, hereinafter referred to as the Condemned, shall be due at sunset, June 6th. Execution..."
"...beheading will be carried out by Walton McNeil, the executioner appointed by the committee, in accordance with the procedures."
After Fudge recounted the execution process again, he asked Hagrid: "About the body of the convicted person after execution, should we take it away and dispose of it, or—"
"No, I...I want to be with it...I can't let it be alone..." Hagrid wrinkled his nose, and the tears that had been swirling in his eyes couldn't help it after all, and it flowed smoothly like a gate. It trickled down my cheeks.
"Of course." Fudge nodded, looked out the window, and then said, "It's almost time, let's start the execution!"
Just as he was beckoning several people to go to the back garden, Dumbledore suddenly spoke.
"I think we'd better hurry up and talk about that case—it's a tight time, and we need to hurry."
"Oh——" Fudge thought for a while, "That's true, I came here mainly for this this time—you go to implement the procedure, and I will stay in the room and wait for you."
The Hogsmeade case had kept Fudge awake for days.
In recent years, the British wizarding world has remained very stable. And on that night, just among the first batch of Aurors who rushed there, one of them died in St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Injuries and Injuries due to serious injuries.
And the number of commoner wizards who were accidentally attacked and killed reached three.
As for the injured, there are more than a dozen people who have been identified. Whether there are any who have not been identified is another matter.
It can be said that compared to dealing with an animal, this is a big case that makes people worry!
When Hagrid and Maca followed the two people to the back garden, under Hagrid's surprised gaze, the old committee member took the back door of the hut behind him.
After he, the executioner McNeil and Maca looked at each other, Maca nodded calmly.
"Hagrid, take Buckbeak to the Forbidden Forest first, and find a place to tie him up." Maca said suddenly, "Remember, tie him up a bit...and come back as soon as possible."
Hagrid, who was still sobbing, was taken aback for a moment, and looked at Maca a little confused.
But Maca just waved his hand casually, motioning him to hurry up and do as he said.
Hagrid couldn't help but glanced at the two men sent by the committee, but they didn't bother to talk to him at all. McNeill just leaned against the wall of the hut, wiping his big ax with a rag; while the old man pretended to be looking at the sunset, as if wondering if he would be like the setting sun, and the first The next day rose vigorously again.
Hagrid seemed to understand something, but he didn't seem to understand it that much.
But he can't control that much anymore-Buckbeak may not have to die, Maca has done something, it must be like this!
He untied the rope that tied Buckbeak, pulled it and ran desperately towards the Forbidden Forest.
"The sooner the better, get Piccolo out of here as soon as possible!" At this moment, there was only one thought in Hagrid's mind.
Maca glanced at Hagrid's back, then drew out his wand, picked a few pumpkins that were big enough from the ground, and gathered them together with the Levitation Charm.
Immediately afterwards, under the effect of a polymorph, the pile of pumpkins quickly turned into the corpse of a hippogriff whose head had been beheaded.
The bloody scene was almost as like as two peas in the real world.
"McNeil, can you imitate the call of the eagle and horse?" Maca turned around and asked casually.
The executioner McNeill couldn't help but twitched his mouth when he heard this.
"Mr. McLean," he explained dryly, "if the cut goes well, there will be no screams..."
Maca looked at the corpse on the ground, then subconsciously glanced at McNeil's neck, feeling that he had learned a useful new knowledge.
When Hagrid hurried back again, Maca ignored him staring at the detached corpse on the ground, just grabbed his sleeve, and walked into the cabin together with the other two.
"I think, Hagrid, you'll have to cry a little longer," he suggested kindly.
Hagrid twisted his mouth, realizing that he couldn't cry anymore, so he shook his head.
"A clear spring is like water."
Maca raised his wand, and suddenly, a clear spring of water spouted Hagrid's face, and even the front of his clothes were soaked.